The World Series of Pitching Changes

By

David Roth

Oct 25, 2011 11:21 am ET

EPA

Tony La Russa could have plenty of time to ponder new data plans for his cell phone starting Wednesday.

Two and a half decades from today, baseball fans will not talk about Monday’s Game 5 of the World Series the way they remember Game 6 of the 1986 series, which happened 25 years ago on Tuesday. That game was, after all, the rare game iconic enough to warrant an artistic tribute via Nintendo and which the Journal’s Jason Gay named Buckner Day. Monday’s game, by contrast, was another of the hyper-managed, blunder-full games that have defined this ultra-entertaining World Series. Decades from now, fans may well remember Monday’s 4-2 Rangers win as the game that tilted the series in Texas’ favor. But it’s more likely they’ll remember it as the most epically over-maneuvered and ultra-managed games of Tony La Russa’s uniquely assertive managerial career. Blaming bullpen-management mistakes on a bad bullpen phone reception may not quite measure up to “Gets by Buckner,” but it does seem as if it could be weird enough to last.

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